Klimatisch bedingte Veränderungen der Flora in Mitteleuropa und daraus resultierende Aufgaben für den Arten- und Naturschutz

Die Auswirkungen des ablaufenden Klimawandels werden zunehmend sichtbar. Pflanzenarten wandern nach Norden, beziehungsweise in höher gelegene Lagen. Die Reaktionen sind aber nicht an allen Artarealgrenzen gleich und die Rolle des Klimas muss auch nicht immer an allen Grenzen von gleich grosser Bedeutung sein. Anhand von Fallbeispielen werden ‘erwartete‘ und ‘unerwartete‘ Vegetationsveränderungen vorgestellt und im Hinblick auf die Rolle veränderter Klimabedingungen diskutieImpacts of global warming become increasingly visible. Plant species shift their ranges northwards and towards higher altitudes respectively. However, the responses are not always the same at the various range boundaries and the role of the climate must not be of the same importance at the various range limits. Case studies are presented which represent ’expected’ but also ’unexpected’ changes in the vegetation, which are discussed in terms of the importance of a changing climate. Based on these findings, some conclusions are drawn for nature conservation

Plant species' range shifts in mountainous areas—all uphill from here?

Species from many different habitats are responding to recent climate change. Mountainous areas are of particular interest as they provide pronounced gradients and have experienced above-average temperature increases. Data from the beginning of the 20th century of both the upper and lower range limits of plants of the European Alps were updated a century later and analyzed in order to identify common trends and deviating patterns of shifts at opposing ends of species' ranges. At the upper limit, there was a strong trend towards an increase in species richness per summit, including 33 species that were recorded for the first time on any of the investigated summit areas. The species experienced a consistent upward shift exceeding 100 elevational meters, and 49 out of the 125 investigated species shifted upwards to a present altitude which is higher than any reported occurrence in the region one century ago. The response at the lower range limit was more heterogeneous and suggests species-specific differences in responsiveness and response patterns. With this approach of the combined analysis of upper and lower range limits along elevational gradients, it is possible to identify candidate species that might not keep pace with climate change, and thus, might face an increased risk of extinction with continued global warmin

<scp>ReSurveyEurope</scp>: A database of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe

AbstractAimsWe introduce ReSurveyEurope — a new data source of resurveyed vegetation plots in Europe, compiled by a collaborative network of vegetation scientists. We describe the scope of this initiative, provide an overview of currently available data, governance, data contribution rules, and accessibility. In addition, we outline further steps, including potential research questions.ResultsReSurveyEurope includes resurveyed vegetation plots from all habitats. Version 1.0 of ReSurveyEurope contains 283,135 observations (i.e., individual surveys of each plot) from 79,190 plots sampled in 449 independent resurvey projects. Of these, 62,139 (78%) are permanent plots, that is, marked in situ, or located with GPS, which allow for high spatial accuracy in resurvey. The remaining 17,051 (22%) plots are from studies in which plots from the initial survey could not be exactly relocated. Four data sets, which together account for 28,470 (36%) plots, provide only presence/absence information on plant species, while the remaining 50,720 (64%) plots contain abundance information (e.g., percentage cover or cover–abundance classes such as variants of the Braun‐Blanquet scale). The oldest plots were sampled in 1911 in the Swiss Alps, while most plots were sampled between 1950 and 2020.ConclusionsReSurveyEurope is a new resource to address a wide range of research questions on fine‐scale changes in European vegetation. The initiative is devoted to an inclusive and transparent governance and data usage approach, based on slightly adapted rules of the well‐established European Vegetation Archive (EVA). ReSurveyEurope data are ready for use, and proposals for analyses of the data set can be submitted at any time to the coordinators. Still, further data contributions are highly welcome.</jats:sec

Plant species’ range shifts in mountainous areas—all uphill from here?

Species from many different habitats are responding to recent climate change. Mountainous areas are of particular interest as they provide pronounced gradients and have experienced above-average temperature increases. Data from the beginning of the 20th century of both the upper and lower range limits of plants of the European Alps were updated a century later and analyzed in order to identify common trends and deviating patterns of shifts at opposing ends of species' ranges. At the upper limit, there was a strong trend towards an increase in species richness per summit, including 33 species that were recorded for the first time on any of the investigated summit areas. The species experienced a consistent upward shift exceeding 100 elevational meters, and 49 out of the 125 investigated species shifted upwards to a present altitude which is higher than any reported occurrence in the region one century ago. The response at the lower range limit was more heterogeneous and suggests species-specific differences in responsiveness and response patterns. With this approach of the combined analysis of upper and lower range limits along elevational gradients, it is possible to identify candidate species that might not keep pace with climate change, and thus, might face an increased risk of extinction with continued global warmin

Consensus on climate change

2 page(s

Actual aspects of vegetation science

Die Geobotanik oder Vegetationskunde mit all ihren Teildisziplinen (u.a. Biogeographie, Pflanzen­soziologie, Pflanzenökologie, Biozönologie, Floren- und Vegetationsgeschichte, Paläoökologie) ist eine der wichtigsten ganzheitlichen Zugänge zur Biologie insgesamt und die Forschungsdisziplin, welche die Aufgabe hat, zeitliche und räumliche Muster der Diversität in der Pflanzenwelt zu dokumentieren, zu analysieren, visualisieren und zu interpretieren. Die Biodiversität ist zu einem Schlüsselbegriff der öko­logischen wie auch geobotanischen Forschung geworden. Die belebte Welt unseres Planeten ist von unglaublicher Vielfalt. Die Anzahl bekannter Arten an Pflanzen, Tieren und Mikroorganismen wird derzeit auf 1,4 Millionen veranschlagt, 5 bis 15 Millionen Arten werden global geschätzt. Diese Zahl lässt jedoch viele Plünderte oder Tausende von bislang noch nicht oder nur schlecht bestimmten Arten in gewissen Organismengruppen (z. B. Mikroorganismen) unberücksichtigt, welche bislang noch nicht oder nur unzureichend erfasst und beschrieben sind. Die systematische Erfassung aller Arten in international angelegten und intensiv finanzierten Arten­ erfassungsprogrammen ist eine notwendige Zukunftsaufgabe. Die Einbindung der Pflanzen und Mikroorganismen in die natürlichen Ökosysteme, ihr euryökes oder stenökes Standortverhalten, die Erfas­sung ihrer Konkurrenzkraft und ihrer Migrationsfähigkeit sind beispielsweise vordergründige Auf­gaben. Neben den heute bekannten Arten hat wohl ein Mehrfaches dieser Zahl - vielleicht Millionen oder gar Milliarden - in der Vergangenheit gelebt. Sie sind heute ausgestorben, ohne je einmal lebend beschrieben worden zu sein. Nur ein kleiner Rest ist uns als Fossilien erhalten. Die Biodiversität unserer heutigen Welt muss also verstärkt kausal aus paläoökologischer Sicht beleuchtet werden. Auch die natürliche Variabilität des Klimas, die Geodiversität und die Biodiversität sind als Schätze der heutigen Ökosysteme der Erde zu betrachten. Die Rekonstruktion natürlicher klimatischer Abläu­fe, die genaue Erfassung der Variabilität und der Schwankungsintensität des natürlichen Klimas und der gegebenenfalls anthropogenen Klimaerwärmung sind vordergründige Aufgaben hochspezialisierter, interdisziplinärer Forschung, an denen die Geobotanik ihren zukommenden Anteil haben wird. Dies wird an einigen Beispielen verdeutlicht. Vor diesem Hintergrund sollen einige Aspekte vordergründiger Probleme des 21. Jahrhunderts aus globaler bis lokaler Perspektive diskutiert und schließlich die Rolle beleuchtet werden, welche geobotanische Forschung zu Beginn dieses neuen Jahrhunderts einnehmen könnte.Geobotany or vegetation science with all its disciplines (biogeography, phytosociology, plant ecolo­gy, flora- and vegetation history, palaeoecology) is one of the most important holistic accesses to biolo­gy. These research disciplines have the task to document, analyse and visualize the species, their beha­viour and interactions as well as their habitat in order to better understand the world of plants. Diversi­ty has become a major key in ecological and geobotanical research. There is a huge variety in flora and fauna on our planet. At present the number of described species of plants, animals and microorganisms amounts 1.4 million species. This number disregards thousands of species (for example microorga­nisms), which are not or only insufficient specified up to now. The total number of species of the Earth is estimated up to 15 million. Therefore, the systematic description of all species in international acquisition programs is a neces­sary task for the future. The integration of plants and microorganisms in natural eco-systems, their euryokes and stenoekes site-specific behavior, their competition strength and their migration ability are for example important tasks. Besides modern taxa, a huge number of species lived in the geological past. It seems that most of them have never been described, so that only a very small number is known as fossils. Therefore, modern biodiversity has also to be elucidated from a palaeoecological point of view. Also the natural variability of the climate, the geodiversity and the biodiversity have to be regarded as treasures of the present eco-systems of the earth. The reconstruction of natural climatic processes, the registration of natural climatic dynamics and the possible anthropogenic greenhouse effect are tasks of highly specialized, interdisciplinary research, in which geobotany will have its coming position. This will be outlined by some examples. On this basis, some aspects of the problems of the 21st century will be discussed from a global to local perspective, to elucidate the position of geobotanical research at the beginning of the new century

Community and ecosystem responses to recent climate change

There is ample evidence for ecological responses to recent climate change. Most studies to date have concentrated on the effects of climate change on individuals and species, with particular emphasis on the effects on phenology and physiology of organisms as well as changes in the distribution and range shifts of species. However, responses by individual species to climate change are not isolated; they are connected through interactions with others at the same or adjacent trophic levels. Also from this more complex perspective, recent case studies have emphasized evidence on the effects of climate change on biotic interactions and ecosystem services. This review highlights the ‘knowns’ but also ‘unknowns’ resulting from recent climate impact studies and reveals limitations of (linear) extrapolations from recent climate-induced responses of species to expected trends and magnitudes of future climate change. Hence, there is need not only to continue to focus on the impacts of climate change on the actors in ecological networks but also and more intensively to focus on the linkages between them, and to acknowledge that biotic interactions and feedback processes lead to highly complex, nonlinear and sometimes abrupt responses